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Gift 
?W.G.Leland 



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'^he Corner Stone on Ann street, where Hancock Taylor 
placed his transit when he surveyed the land on which old 
Frankfort is situated, in 1 773. It was given to Mrs. Morton 
in 1 899 and restored to its place h\) her Oct. 6, 1 899. 







Kentucky's Neiti ^tate Capitol 






/ / ^Tl' HAT'S this dull town to me?" asks worldly 
"^^^^iJji Kentuckians. They have traveled perhaps in 

^ Eurcpe—have seen the grand things of old 

empires— where nothing is new, and all is strange; or they have 
lived for awhile in London, New York, Paris or Edinburg, or 
in Cincinnati, Louisville or Lexington, Kentucky. Besides these 
prosperous and gay cities, our little Capital of Kentucky, 
Frankfort, seems dull, indeed. "No opera house, no theatres, 
no grand ball room or reception halls, how do the people live?" 
They ask with a sneer. 

Listen! These same enquirers come here on invitations to 
visit friends in the city, and they are delighted with the people 
—so kind, polite and informal, and the dull town seems 
so fascinating in its freedom from the things that other cities 
have, they turn homeward with genuine regret. 

The old world quiet of the place, the regular irregularities 
of the city, the general air of indifference to progress and fashion, 
and the things other cities deem so essential to the up-to-date 
metropolis— these make them wonder and laugh and then linger 
to enjoy its sigularities. After awhile they say, "What a charm- 
ing little town you have. It is so quaint, its charm so magnetic." 
It is the paradise of politicians and the seat of law and home 
of distinguished men. 

The restlessness and the wild desire of the age to ride the 
crest of the wave, "to dare and do" the remarkable things now 
startling the outside world— Frankfort simply reads about them, 
but prefers terra firma She is content with such things as she 
has and she has her limitations. Now and then, years apart, 
she yields to the entreaties of outlying villages and annexes 
them to her borders. She rests on her fame as one of the most 
historic points South or West, renowned withal as the Capital 
of Kentucky. 



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®o J^ttjng ^erself 



She sits in her chair of state among her wonderful hills, 
perfectly undisturbed by criticisms and sneers at her old- 
fashioned ways. She is aware that her faults are not incurable; 
she has the advantage of the experience of a century and more 
of managing State affairs--hence her equalibrium is not dis- 
turbed by the views of this last generation of the ten she has 
ruled over. 

All must come to her terms and to her judgment of their 
new plans for the betterment of her people and improvement 
of cities like Frankfort. She proposes to sit quietly and enjoy/ 
herself— those may run away that likef other things better. 

Today, as in many days before, all the big roads, the rail- 
roads and the automobiles, carriages, buggies and bicycles and 
boats and air ships, all, all lead to Frankfort. In her splendid 
new Capitol, she inaugurates for a second time her distinguished 
citizen—as Governor of Kentucky— James B. McCreary. 

Times have changed since thirty-six years ago— Frankfort 
received him, a young man, with a welcome as warm as the 
September sun of that day, on which inaugurations were held 
in 1875, not only as Governor of the State, but as a citizen 
and friend. Time has dealt gently with both Governor and 
city since then. The glory of success and splendid achieve- 
ments have crowned his life— but the weight of glory has not 
bowed his soldierly figure, nor has the gray dust of time 
silvered his hair. The goodness of God has followed him and 
blessed him as it did His favorites of old. As a ruler. Governor 
McCreary is at home— and Frankfort is proud that she has a 
marble Capitol now for him to dwell in, as Chief Magistrate of 
the State— and this Capitol makes the change in the Frankfort 
of today. Now begins the activities of a city uniting the old 
with the new, with great possibilities for the future. 



^ a g e F i V 



A ^tillage m]m 



Until about 1850, South Frankfort was a small village — 
of comparatively little importance. About that lime, its citizens 
began to urge annexation to old Frankfort— founded m 1 786 
and made the Capital of Kentucky in 1 792. When 'South 
Frankfort must be used as a highway for the north-side, 
and an exit by roads from the Capital to adjacent counties 
and towns on the south, the little village grew tired of 
her position as such, and claimed the dignity of her name. 
South Frankfort, and the protection and privileges of the north- 
side city. She was annexed finally about 1850~and then be- 
gan to macadamize her streets and pave her sidewalks, and 
otherwise improve. Houses began to be built of handsome 
proportions— and here and there business houses were erected. 
The old Hanna House on Second street was the grand resi- 
dence of South Frankfort. It was built in 1 8 1 7- 1 8 1 8, by 
John Hunt, of Lexington, and remained the finest house of the 
South Side until after the Civil War closed. The public school 
building was erected in I 886. The elegant bridge over the 
Kentucky river, uniling the two cities, was built in I 894. Then 
came the trolley cars. All this while there raged every two 
years, when the Legislature met, a contention about the seat 
of government. "Capitol removal" was continually agitated. 
This perplexed and depressed both cities, and prosperity went 
away to other cities. But the crisis came in affairs when Gov- 
ernor Beckham silenced "Capitol removal," by using his in- 
fluence for a new Capitol in the time-honored Capital of Ken- 
tucky. The Legislature of 1 904 voted one million dollars to 
build the new Capitol. In 1905 the Legislature decided to 
build the Capitol on the property in South Frankfort, purchased 
of Mr. Frank Chinn. Governor Beckham, after the long and 
arduous contention, in February, 1 904, signed the bill appro- 
priating $ 1 ,000,000 to built the present Capitol on the most 
beautiful site in Kentucky. South Frankfort is now New or 
Greater Frankfort— growing in importance and wealth every 
day. The Capitol, one of the most beautiful in the entire 
Union, is visited by thousands of sight-seers from all parts of 
the World, this State and the Union. 



"Page 



®t|0 ^e6i (Eapitnl 



From the September Register of 1 905, page 13,1s taken 
the following description of the Capitol, written by the editor: 

"Lest the Kentuckians should forget the event and the 
ceremonies of the laying of the corner-stone of the new Capi- 
tol, we place on this first page the published account of the 
proceedings of that day. The editor of the Register was re- 
quested to give the issue which contained a picture and sketch 
of Governor Isaac Shelby, the first Governor of Kentucky, to 
this shrine of the people's glory — (see May Register of 1903) 
— the only published account and picture of Governor Shelby 
available, for the crypt in the corner-stone, was placed there — 
a memento alike to the State Historical Society, that has done 
so much for the creditable history of the State and its people. 

"The Capitol—the palace without memories— without herit- 
age of honors or fame, stainless in splendor, perfect in art, and 
unrivaled in beauty, standing is the sunshine, shadowless and 
pure. Thanks to Governor Beckham and the Board of Capi- 
tol Commissioners of 1 905 for the magnificent achievement for 
the State of Kentucky. 

"It is a monument to these public servants of the State, 
who gave their talents and their time and their care, 'without 
money and without price,' we learn, to the direction and pre- 
liminary work— for the new Capitol. Mr. Frank M. Andrews, 
of Dayton, Ohio, was secured as the architect, and this insured 
the work to be as a Captol, a work of enduring art alone. 



®I|0 ^itilhtitg 



"It is of the Ital an renaissance architecture and is 402 
feet and some inches from east to west and about 1 80 feet 
through from north to south. The three stories are finished 
with parapet walls, which support a fourth floor Intended for 
storage. 

"The exterior of the building is of Vermont granite; the 
rest of the exterior work, including the dome, is of Bedford 
stone. From foundation to top of dome is 2 I feet. We read: 

"The first story is of rusticated work laid up in huge blocks. 
Through the second and third floors run the 70 large mono- 
lithic < olumns which surround the entire building, the rear and 
end facades being treated the Srime as the front. The columns 
are ionic in design and the entablature above and the treatment 



^ a g e Seven 



of other features of the building conform to them. The dome 
is treated in like manner except that the twenty-four encircling 
columns are in sections instead of being monolithic. In the 
manner of its monolithic columns this building stands alone among 
State Capitols, and the beauty of this feature can be appre- 
ciated when compared to the sectional columns of other 
buildings. 

"The pediment is enriched with sculptural designs of sur- 
passing artistic correctness in allegorical symbols. (See picture.) 

"It is not our purpose to go into details of the various de- 
partments allowed State officials. The handsomest room in size 
in the building is the Hall of Fame on the first floor; adjoining 
this room are the rooms of the State Historical Society; on the 
second floor is the Court of Appeals rooms and State Library; 
and on the third floor are the rooms of the House and Senate 
of the Kentucky Legislature. 

"The site of the Capitol is one of matchless beauty and 
elegance. (See Register 1905.) There is everything in the 
scenery to inspire a sentiment of reverence for beauty and 
sublimity. Below the Capitol grounds is an expanding city 
rushing out in the glens and climbing the hills on terraces. 
There is a beautiful river, the Kentucky, that winds around and 
through it, its flashing breast thronging with steamers and sail 
boats. Picturesque drives are seen like gray ribbons drawn 
about and through the hills and valleys; railways are running in 
every direction under and over the green hills. These views 
from the Capitol make the landscape one of charm that is beyond 
description. Let us hope Kentuckians in the future will appre- 
ciate their new Capitol of noble beauty and keep it unshadowed 
by guilt and unstained by crime. A Parthenon perfect in 
architecture, a temple fit to adorn the 20th century." 

(Frankfort News-Journal, Dec. 12.191 1.) 



FROM 
THE COYLE PRESS 

FRANKFORT. KY. 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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